Posts Tagged ‘Jim DeMint’

In a move that surprised even the insiders , Senator Jim DeMint announced he would be resigning from his Senate seat in January to take the helm of The Heritage Foundation.

He will be replacing Ed Feulner, who has been president since 1977. In remarks made at the foundation’s headquarters, he said:

“This is a critical time for America and there is no organization in the country, in fact, the world, that is better positioned to convince the American people that the conservative policies that The Heritage Foundation has developed over the years are the solutions to the problems that we face as a nation,”

Speculation immediately turned to who Governor Nikki Haley would choose to replace him. His successor will be named by the Governor – the special election to replace him won’t be until 2014, when SC will elect not one but two US Senators. The top name being mentioned is Rep. Tim Scott, who would become the first black GOP Senator in decades. There are a long list of reasons why he is at the top of the list. Other names already being bandied about include Reps Mick Mulvaney, Joe Wilson, and Jeff Duncan, state Senator Tom Davis, former Ambassador David Wilkins and former Attorney General Henry McMaster.

The Washington Post outlines why they think it’s a balancing act for Nikki Haley:
On the plus side:

On the cusp of her own re-election bid in 2014, Haley gets to make a pick that will have lasting consequences on how the state is represented in Washington. If you think that choice will be made separately from Haley’s own political needs, you haven’t spent much time watching how politics is played.

On the down side:

As we noted above, Haley will be able to make a pick that solidifies a group (or groups) for her own re-election race. But almost no matter who she picks, there will be some within the party who feel as though she slighted their preferred candidate — particularly in a state with as fractious a Republican party as South Carolina. Haley must tread very carefully — not only in her final pick but in the public and private deliberations that get her to that final pick.

Like this:

Incumbent Senator Michael Bennet survived a strong intra-party challenge from former Colorado House Speaker, Andrew Romanoff. (Yes, the one that was offered a job by the White House if he would drop out of the race.). Bennet won with 54.2% of the vote, while Romanoff received 45.7%.
Bennet had establishment backing from Obama, the DSCC and Organizing for America while Romanoff countered with endorsements from former President Clinton and big labor. Most facinating, this was the first major race in Colorado where Democrats did not unite behind a single candidate – at least since the 2004 “Colorado Miracle”. In fact, Romanoff became Colorado’s Speaker because of the focused, effective battle the “Gang of Four” waged against Colorado Republicans. He then went on to use that very same battle strategy against Senator Bennet, including some very negative campaigning. This time, however, it was unsuccessful. National media called the Colorado race the nastiest of the year. In fact, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine will travel to Colorado this week to speak at a unity event and work to heal the deep rift within the party and help Sen Bennet hold on to his seat in November.

The Republicans did not fare much better. Tea party candidate Ken Buck, another so-called political outsider (who actually wasn’t that much of an outsider), defeated former Lt Governor Jane Norton with 51.5% of the vote. Buck has a few faux-pas’ himself. He was caught on tape wondering when the “dumba…s” tea partiers would stop asking him about Obama’s birth certificate. Oops. He does not believe that stumbles in the primary will follow him into the general. He was endorsed by Jim DeMint and has publicly stated the political person he most admires is the SC Senator. Still, he will have his work cut out for him to defeat Bennet in November.

Bloodied and battered, the two primary winners must now struggle to unite their respective parties and win over unaffiliated voters to win the election in November. Expect more fireworks. And mud. Lots and lots of mud.

In Colorado’s gubernatorial GOP primary, Dan Maes defeated former Rep. Scott McInnis. Maes faces Democrat John Hickenlooper, the Denver mayor, and American Constitution Party candidate Tom Tancredo, a former GOP congressman, in the general election. Tancredo got in the race because he did not believe either Maes or McInnis represented a good option for governor. McInnis was embroiled in a plagarism scandal, while Maes has his own ethical issues and fundraising troubles.

Meanwhile Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier won out over Lang Sias, (who was endorsed by John McCain, Sarah Palin and Tom Tancredo) for the GOP nomination. He will face Rep. Ed Perlmutter in November in a race that favors the incumbent.